Sacramento Topics

Sara Ryan, a registered nurse with Kaiser in Rancho Cordova, left, instructs patient Debbie Hickman, how to use a Flovent inhaler to help her treat her asthma Monday December 8, 2003. ( The Sacramento Bee Hector Amezcua ) assignment number 16036

LEDE-- Wendie Skala checks on patient Odell Rhodes, 69, of Sacramento who is recovering from a fall. Skala, 56, works as a trauma prevention coordinator at Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center after a long career as a Lifeflight Nurse at Stanford Hospital. She is a doting grandmother of four, a veteran registered nurse -- and a veteran. A major in the Air Force reserves, she deploys in early January for her fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan as a highly skilled flight nurse. She's part of a force that's older, more experienced and more proportionately female than other branches of the armed services. She simply says she's a late bloomer: She didn't join the air force until she was in her early 40s, not long after her longtime partner died. Wednesday, December 28, 2011.

Michael McCollum (Stockton) Record Sean Nevarez, 38, of Stockton receives a flu shot from registered nurse Valerie Moore at the San Joaquin County Public Health Services Clinic recently in Stockton, where public officials are working to reverse unhealthy trends.